


How Rose Tyler solved the Broadchurch murder

by silversurfer60



Category: Broadchurch, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Drama & Romance, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-04-05 07:40:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4171539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silversurfer60/pseuds/silversurfer60
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>DS Rose Tyler has been moved to the small coastal town of Broadchurch and is awaiting another promotion to DI but her hopes are dashed when gruff DI Alec Hardy gets her job.  The said DI has obviously never met a Tyler woman before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rose Tyler, who never met 'The Doctor' wanted to be a policewoman since she was little. Now she is qualified and sailed through the ranks to become a DS and has been moved to the small coastal town of Broadchurch and is awaiting another promotion to DI but her hopes are dashed when gruff DI Alec Hardy gets her job. The said DI has obviously never met a Tyler woman before.
> 
> For the purpose of this story, the killer is different and not revealed so please keep this in mind. The title is taken from Ellie's statement to Beth about Steve Connelly cashing in on the boy's death. Events mainly take place between Rose and Hardy, from Rose's point of view, a lot of events have been left out. Nearly everyone knows the story anyway. I thought it would be amusing if a Doctorless Rose was the detective having to deal with Hardy. Starts off mildly but changes in the upcoming chapters.

Rose had been told before she went on holiday she was next in line for a promotion when the DI who had been in charge retired from the Broadchurch Police Department. She had met up with her mother and they had been to Spain for 10 days. She was supposed to have gone with her boyfriend Mickey, who still lived in London but they had fallen out just before they were due to fly out so she told him to get lost and changed the booking, not wanting to miss her holiday because of him. She was back on a Thursday and Mickey had not been off the phone since, trying to get her to take him back so she had told him he could come down next weekend and she would see.

She had a nice two bedroom apartment on the road up from the harbour into the town for when her mother came to visit and she had a few friends including Ellie who had been the DS that Rose had replaced when Ellie went on maternity leave but they had become good friends and often had each other over for dinner.

As Rose was walking down the High Street late on Wednesday afternoon on her way home, she passed by The Traders Hotel and said hello to Becca who asked how Rose had enjoyed her holiday. Becca had been talking to a tall man with a beard in the doorway but he had gone inside when Rose approached. Becca asked her if she had made up with her boyfriend and Rose had said she was thinking about it and Becca had laughed. As she walked down the street, she bumped into Olly Stevens, the local newspaper reporter and who was a few years younger than she was and always trying to get a date with her and she kept telling him she had a boyfriend.

"Hi Rose, fancy a drink tonight?" Olly asked hopefully.

"When are you going to get the hint Olly? I've got a boyfriend."

"Well I've never seen you with him, I'm sure you're making it up."

"Well that's because he lives in London and only comes down at weekends but that's beside the point." She just waved him away and carried on walking with her groceries and reached home.

ooooooooo{silversurfer60}ooooooooo

Thursday morning, Rose's alarm went off at seven, back to work and she showered, put her work clothes on, a pair of black trousers and a blue blouse then gathered the few presents she had brought back for the people in her team. Everyone greeted her when she arrive in the office and her chief was waiting in the doorway.

"Rose, can I have a word?" the chief asked.

Rose was all smiles until she got into her office.

"I'm sorry Rose, we gave the job to someone else."

Rose could hardly believe what she was hearing. "Sorry, did I hear right? You gave the job to someone else? What happened to we need more females in key positions?"

"It's out of my hands Rose. I got an order from HQ, I had to take on someone, a DI because there were no vacant posts."

"So have I heard of this person, are they local?" Rose asked, trying not to get herself suspended for insubordination.

"I doubt it, he's from Scotland," the chief said matter-of-factly, like Rose was supposed to already know.

"What? You gave the job to a man, from Scotland?"

"I'm sorry Rose, I had no choice. This station was the only one with a vacancy."

"So when does he start?"

"Last week."

Rose got up and walked out, trying not to slam the door behind her and went into the ladies room, kicking the door on her way in and screaming at the top of her voice. She got out her phone and called her mother, telling her what had happened.

"Rose, calm down. Think this through. It wasn't official was it? I mean there must have been other candidates for the job and if your chief had no choice, maybe her hands were tied. You'll get the next promotion or you can put in for a transfer."

"That's just it Mum, there aren't any more DI positions, that's why he was sent here."

"Well what about where he came from?"

"Mum, he's come from Scotland, I'm not moving up there."

Just then there was a knock on the cubicle door. Rose lost her temper. "Do you mind, I'm in here."

A female voice shouted, "Rose, you got a call-out."

"I have to go Mum, love you."

Rose put her phone in her pocket and opened the door, stopping to wipe her face on a paper towel. She went back into the office to get her car keys from her desk when she was told she wouldn't need them. The crime scene was over on the beach. She made her way over, her ID badge clipped to her and walked awkwardly across the sand, showing her badge to the uniformed officers behind the police tape. There in the distance was the body of a child, she could see it was not an adult and she covered her mouth with her hands as she got nearer. She had never been called to the death of a child before.

As she approached, a uniformed officer acknowledged her and a tall man turned around, waving her away. It was the man she had seen on Saturday afternoon in The Traders.

"Who let you past the tape, get her away from the crime scene," the man barked in a broad Scottish accent.

Rose showed her ID badge and looked at the body.

"I know him," she simply said.

The man held his hand out. ''DI Hardy – and you are?"

''DS Tyler. I know who you are, you got my job."

The man was not amused. "Really, are we going to do this now?"

Rose glared at him. "I know who it is, his name is Danny Latimer, he goes to school with my friend's son.''

"What took you so long getting here Tyler?" Hardy asked, staring at her.

"Excuse me? I just got the call." Really, the cheek of the man.

They were interrupted from their staring contest by screams behind Rose as a woman had got past the police tape and Rose recognised her. It was Beth Latimer, Ellie's other friend and mother of the boy lying there on the beach. Someone hurriedly covered the boy with a green blanket but it was too late, the woman was screaming Danny's name.

Rose turned towards her, telling the woman she couldn't be there and telling the two officers that were standing there to take her away and take her home. They finished on the beach and went up onto the cliff top, talking to the scene of crime officer who explained there was no way the body had got onto the beach from up there. They didn't know that a certain keen reporter had been told something was going on at the beach and had followed them. He stopped them as they were getting in a police car further down the beach to go back to the station. She told Hardy who he was and he gruffly told the reporter to go away and got in the front seat of the police car.

Once back at the station, Rose went to collect her car keys and they went down to the garage and Hardy got into the passenger seat and Rose drove them to the Latimer house. As Rose pulled up, she asked if she could take the lead because she knew Beth Latimer through her friend. Hardy refused, adamantly.

"How many murder investigations have you conducted Tyler?" he asked, looking at her.

Rose had to admit it was her first in Broadchurch but had been involved in several whilst in London. "It's my first involving a child, Sir."

"You can't possibly make it any better because you know the family, you'd best not even try."

Rose was getting annoyed and she'd only spent a few hours with him. It was going to be a long investigation. "Sir, they'll talk to me, they don't know you. How do you know I can't make it better? You don't know me."

Hardy ignored her. "It was probably an abduction, we need the facts Tyler. Watch them and if you suspect anything, you tell me. Clear?"

Rose looked at him. "Crystal – Sir." She was going to make this difficult for him, he wasn't going to get a free ride.

"Don't look at me like that Tyler."

They got out of the car and went to face the family of the boy. Rose did not enjoy it. The father, Mark wanted to see the body, he thought they had got it wrong and it wasn't their son that had been found so Rose volunteered to take him to the hospital morgue while Hardy put on gloves and shoe protectors and went to examine the boys room.

When Rose arrived at the hospital with Mark Latimer, he asked her if he could touch his son but Rose regrettably told him it wasn't possible. She then took the broken man back home and picked up her new boss. What a start to a new week, after a great holiday, then coming back to find someone got the job you'd expected to be yours, a child you know has been murdered and your new boss was a total arse. She was thinking life could sometimes play cruel tricks on you. It wasn't about to get better anytime soon.

Getting back to the station, Hardy took over the briefing, leaving Rose to finish off. They were about to visit the local newsagents where the boy had been doing a early morning paper round as his mother had phoned the shop and been told he hadn't shown up that morning. The chief was waiting outside the station and Hardy walked across to the harbour with her but Rose got held up by two uniformed officers and hurried to catch up with them but Hardy was now on his own, walking back towards her.

"What did the chief want Sir?" Rose asked.

Hardy shook his head. "No, I don't want to discuss it with you Tyler."

Rose looked at him. "Sir, do you mind not calling me Tyler all the time? Everyone calls me Rose."

Hardy regarded her carefully. "Rose, Rose." Then he shook his head. "No."

Rose thought that seemed to be his second favourite word. His first was apparently Tyler.

After interviewing the local newsagent, Jack Marshall, who Rose was amused to find that Hardy had managed to annoy him as well, happy that she wasn't the only one Hardy seemed intent on getting on the wrong side of, Rose then had to drive Hardy to the hospital to get the pathologist's report, something else Rose didn't particularly enjoy but a necessary part of the job as she had learned the hard way. After going back to brief the family again, Rose had to stop to fill up the car and went into the kiosk, grabbing two sandwiches and two bottles of plain water.

Hardy looked at her as she handed a sandwich and a bottle of water to him. "What's this?" he grunted, looking at the cardboard sandwich carton containing a chicken salad sandwich.

"Lunch, I'm not going to starve even if we have just started a murder investigation," Rose snapped back, driving forward into a parking space outside the kiosk and opening hers. Hardy pulled a face and opened the carton and took a bite out of the sandwich. Rose smirked as she eyed him in the mirror.

"You're not from around here, are you Tyler?" he asked, trying to unscrew the top of the water bottle that was a sports top and meant to be pulled open.

Rose thought his powers of observation were astonishing and could see why he had become a detective.

She thought better of it before she actually replied. "I'm from London Sir, been here two years. I took over from someone who went on maternity leave and she decided to stay off and look after her kids." She thought that was quite enough information for now.

Just then her phone rang. It was Olly Stevens. She knew she would regret him getting hold of her number. He wanted to know if she could confirm who the body on the beach was and asked if it was Danny Latimer. Hardy was looking at her, daring her to say something.

"Olly, no comment, there will be statement issued later today." Rose listened as he told her he had seen the boy's sister at the beach, leaving one of Danny's toys. "No Olly, I have nothing to say. Don't you dare print anything until we issue a statement." She hung up and looked in the rear-view mirror to reverse out of the parking space.

"What did he want? Was it that reporter again? No-one is to speak to the press unless I say so."

They drove back to the station and Hardy received a phone call. Someone had released the boy's name on a social networking site. Hardy went crazy and called Rose into his office. Rose insisted she had only spoken to him while Hardy had been present.

"You were with me both times Sir, you know I never said anything."

Hardy wasn't going to let it slide. "Then why did he call you Tyler? Why you?"

Rose tried not to seem offended that a male reporter would be calling her. "Because he tried to ask me out several times and I kept turning him down. He thinks because of that it gives him the right to try and get information out of me."

"Go away Tyler and if he calls you again, either hand me your phone or hang up without speaking to him – understood?"

Rose didn't see why she should get chewed out by her new boss because the child of a reporter couldn't take no for an answer. She had half a mind to get Mickey down here to rough the stupid ape up a bit.

"Yes Sir." She left Hardy's office, trying not to slam the door but it still closed with a thud. He followed her out, now chewing the entire office staff out.

"You people are unbelievable. The Latimers trusted us, now we have lost that trust. Get back to work, all of you."

Rose was totally annoyed. She walked out onto the balcony to find that Hardy had gone out to release a press statement. Thankfully for Rose, he then stayed in his office, glaring at his computer screen. She got a call from Beth Latimer, asking if she could meet her over by the beach. Rose looked over at Hardy, who was still trying to look busy so she walked across the harbour and met with the distraught woman.

"Why can't you lead this investigation Rose? We know you, you knew Danny. Why does that male detective have to lead it?"

"I'm sorry Beth, he's the lead detective in this case, he's my boss. I really tried but he's very strict about it."

Rose didn't know the woman that well, Ellie was closer than she was and they only met at events, not much socially. She supposed the woman felt more comfortable around her. She couldn't blame her, Hardy was a hard case and grumpy with it. DI Grumpy, that's him, she laughed to herself.

She walked back into the station and Hardy came out of his office.

"Late night tonight Tyler, go home and get changed or whatever you need to do, I'm going to give a briefing to the press at the local school in an hour, I want you there then we have work to do. Meet me back here."

Rose took his advice, she would need to get changed so she hurried home, got changed and was back at the station in half an hour. She had received CCTV footage of the night before showing Danny skateboarding down the middle of the High Street and called Hardy over. He stood behind her watching her replay the footage asking a dozen questions and when she could finally get a word in, she went over the list of possessions found with Danny. The skateboard and his mobile phone were both missing.

Rose was getting annoyed with his never pausing to give her a chance to reply and was stunned as Hardy went back into his office saying "Good work."

She then took him up to the school, meeting the chief and they all walked into a room full of concerned townsfolk and the local press including the local TV station. The chief handed the floor over to Hardy as the senior investigating officer and he stared into the camera, answering questions from the local newspaper editor who Rose knew. Finally, Hardy gave his sternest look yet that Rose had seen and vowed to catch whoever had done this.


	2. Chapter 2

Friday morning, the office was buzzing. Tents had been erected on the beach to preserve the scene. Loads of enquiries had come in overnight along with lots of information that needed going through. New desks were being brought into the office and Rose arrived to find her boss had just come back from looking over the cabin on Briar cliff. She had two cups of coffee in her hand and passed one over to Hardy.

"What's that?" he asked, smelling the carton containing the hot liquid.

"It's coffee," she replied, trying not to state the obvious and wanting to tip it over him.

Hardy just shook his head, she wondered what was wrong with the man. He had noticed a CCTV camera while he had been looking at the cabin up on the cliff while he had been walking the boy's paper round and to find out who owned it. He also told her get hold of the CCTV footage from it and asked how the house to house enquires were getting on and wanted more manpower bringing in. Rose said they had all that could be spared, there were events going on in the area that weekend. New phone lines were also being put in.

Hardy walked over to the board containing all the information they had so far and said he wanted priority on finding the dead boy's skateboard and mobile phone. Rose went over to her desk, retrieving a message that the newspaper shop owner had remembered something. She handed it to him and he snatched the piece of paper from her hand and walked off.

"Ungrateful git," she muttered under her breath and put the extra cup of coffee on the nearest desk. "Present for you Frank," she said to the man sitting there.

Rose had to go back to the Latimer house to take a newly qualified family liaison officer and to take elimination prints of the family members, which they grudgingly gave, not being happy about it but Rose convinced them it was necessary. While she was there, the S.O.C.O officer called her to one side. They had found some drugs plus a large amount of cash. She took the teenage girl to one side and asked her about the drugs but she knew nothing about the money.

Rose had to report it to Hardy after the Latimer's teenage daughter admitted she had got them for the owner of The Traders hotel and also brought back a list that Beth Latimer had given her of people they thought had something to do with their son's death and they went to pay Becca Fisher a visit, telling her to call into the station and make a statement. They walked back to the station and Hardy stopped in the break room to make himself a cup of tea, not offering to make one for her. Right, just let him wait.

"Are you going to make one just for yourself then?" she asked boldly.

Hardy just shrugged and walked back to his office. It was then that Rose noticed one of the telephone engineers nosing around one of the desks and told the desk owner to clear it and was about to follow Hardy into his office when he came back out with his coat on.

"Come on Tyler, Jack Marshall said he saw Danny Latimer arguing with the postman a few weeks ago."

Rose grabbed her jacket and car keys and followed him.

They caught up with the postman and Hardy had some questions for him. When Rose tried to say they wanted the names of the people he was with the night before for elimination and not to worry, she got chewed out again.

"Don't tell people that Tyler, don't reassure them or they won't talk."

Rose considered enough was enough. "Look Sir, I know what I'm doing so why do you keep telling me not to do something? It's always worked for me so far so do you mind not trying to stop me doing what I think needs to be done and keep your crap to yourself – Sir?"

She opened the doors with the remote and got into the driver's seat. Hardy just shrugged and seemed to let it slide. They drove back to the station and Hardy shut himself in his office. It was getting late, Rose was ploughing through leads and bits of information until she became hungry and went out in search of food. Walking down to the corner of the road, the fish and chip shop was open so she went in, deciding she would just get chewed out again if she didn't take anything back for DI Grumpy so she asked for them to be put in cartons and walked back up to the station and walked into Hardy's office.

"What's that smell?" he asked as she put the cartons on his desk, planning on making some tea or coffee.

"Fish and chips – unless you want to starve, everywhere else is closed at this time."

Hardy opened the carton and pulled a face. "You'll stay like that if you keep pulling faces," Rose remarked, taking hold of some of the chips and walking out, leaving her carton open on his desk.

He shouted after her. "Mine's tea, milk, no sugar."

Rose called him a prat under her breath and wondered why she bothered but seeing her boss starve himself was not on her agenda, he was skinny enough as it was. When she walked back in with two mugs of tea, she set one beside him and sat back down and he was picking at the food and looked up as she put the mug down.

"Four alibis checked out for the postman," he muttered with his mouth full.

For someone who didn't want to eat, he was doing well, considering. "Well he's had time to get them corroborated hasn't he?" she asked, trying to enjoy her food before it went cold.

Hardy looked up. "You're very suspicious Tyler, what makes you think that?" he asked, picking up the mug of tea.

"If you pull a face at that tea, you can keep on making your own – Sir. It's just that, he says he has four witnesses to say where he was, he only has to ring them up and get them to say he was with them. Doesn't take a genius to work that out, does it?"

Hardy looked at her and probably thought she was far too young to be a DS, let alone gone after the job of being a DI.

"I can't see him doing that four times, it's too much like hard work, getting four different people to get their stories straight. We have to establish if there's a link between the money and the drugs found at the house."

Rose was still trying to eat. "You do know you never give anyone the chance to reply when you repeatedly ask questions all the time, rattling off a list?"

"Do I? I never noticed." Rose thought he probably hadn't. "How are you finding your first child murder?"

"How do you think I'm finding it – it's tough. Any murder is tough but a young boy that you knew? Not that easy."

"It doesn't get any easier Tyler, believe me. Just because you live here doesn't make you exempt. You have to sit back and look at it from the outside, you need to be objective."

"I am being objective and I don't think the Latimers killed their own son, if that's what you're driving at. So don't tell me to look at it from the outside – Sir."

"You have to understand Tyler, anyone is capable of committing a crime, big or small. We can't rule anyone out. What do you make of the list the Latimers made? Anyone interesting?"

"Not really, it's a list of their friends. Neighbours, teachers. They are just clutching a straws Sir. So you think anyone is capable? Does that include us?"

Hardy finished the last of his meal and closed the empty carton, using a napkin to wipe his hands. Raising an eyebrow he looked at her.

"Like I said Tyler, we can't rule anyone out except if you know you didn't do it, you have to prove that and that's exactly what the process of elimination involves. Where were you Tyler?"

Rose looked at him. Was he being serious? "Point taken."

"No-one can keep something like that hidden for a long period of time, they'll make mistakes, we just have to watch for them. Go home Tyler, see you in the morning. I'm going to find out who has the keys for that hut first thing."

The next morning, Rose called her mother before she went out. Her mother, Jackie had seen about the boy's murder on the news.

"Are you ok Rose? It's the first time you've had to deal with a child. I know you can't talk about it but if it gets too much, I can come down there."

"No, it's fine, just be there when I call you. Mickey was supposed to be coming down next weekend, I think I'm going to have to put him off now, I can't see this being over in a week. He's going to think I'm doing it on purpose. He wants me to take him back and I said I'd think about it. I can't concentrate on this case and have Mickey moping around all next weekend. If he's seen it on TV, he'll know why I can't let him come down."

"Are you having to work all weekend then? How's your new boss?"

"Yeah, there's loads to do. He's a total pain in the ass. He's even telling me what to do."

"Maybe you should kill him kindness," her mother joked.

"I know what I'd really like to do. Can you believe he stands there, making tea and never offers to make me one? I bought him fish and chips last night, he pulled faces at them."

Her mother laughed. "Maybe you should invite him out for dinner or something?"

"Don't Mum, I am not going to be seen with him outside work, thanks very much. It's bad enough being seen with during the investigation."

She didn't have to be in until ten so she decided to call in at the café next to the station to get some decent coffee and decided to save her money and not get one for her ungrateful boss. On her way in, she saw her friend Ellie with her family.

"Hi Ellie, how are you?" Rose asked, ruffling the hair of Ellie's youngest son.

"Great. How was the holiday? I heard you got a new boss, I'm really sorry you didn't get your promotion Rose."

"Yeah well, the chief said she was forced to take someone else so what can I do? He's a total prat Ellie."

"Hey, watch your language in front of Fred," Ellie joked. "Maybe you should make him one of your famous Chinese meals, we always enjoy them, smother him with kindness."

"That's what my mother said," Rose laughed.

Rose had gathered quite an audience, one man actually asked her if she thought their kids were safe. Rose asked them to stop asking questions, she wasn't on duty and Ellie gave them her famous look.

"Don't take any notice of them Rose. I even had uniforms knocking on my door. I think your boss wants to interview Danny's friends, I might have to bring Tom in."

"Take my advice Ellie, make sure you come with him when he's interviewed. I'm not saying any more."

Rose got into the station and Hardy called her over to look at the CCTV footage from the car park near the hut on top of Briar Cliff. They could see Mark Latimer waiting in front of a car then the CCTV ran out.

"The tape runs out there, is there another one?" Hardy asked.

Rose looked but there wasn't one. Hardy snarled and said "Cheapskates."

Just then there was a knock on the door. It was the telephone engineer Rose had seen spying on the desk. They took him to the interview room when he said he knew about the murdered boy but he turned out not to have any real information and Hardy had branded him a crank. When he had left, giving Hardy a cryptic message about a pendant, Rose wanted to know what it was about but Hardy just carried on talking.

"We need to talk to Mark Latimer again, it didn't look to me like he was out on any callout."

Rose knew he was trying to avoid her question. Some news came in about the contents of Danny's computer. Hardy said he was going out to see Danny's father again.

"I'll be back later," was all he said, putting his coat on.

Rose thought that at least she didn't have to drive him and felt sorry for the uniformed officer that would be taking him. Rose got called out to the hut and was shown evidence that Mark Latimer had been there and called Hardy. Rose wasn't happy she was having to work Sunday.

Rose had unsuccessfully put Mickey off coming down the following weekend, he had seen about the murder enquiry and said she needed a break. It was Monday morning, loads of things we happening, new staff had been drafted in and Hardy – well he was being his usual grumpy self and had made Rose brief the new recruits. When she had finished, she barged into Hardy's office.

"Don't do that to me again," she snapped, sitting down on the chair opposite him.

"You did well, you wanted to take the case over, you've made that very clear."

"With all due respect – Sir, I do not want to take this case over, I'd just appreciate it if you didn't snap all the time and be civil to me."

Hardy looked at her. "We don't have time to be civil – Tyler, we have a case to solve."

Rose got up and stormed out then remembered what Ellie and her mother had said and opened the door again.

"You're invited for dinner – pick a night."

"What?"

"Dinner at my apartment – choose a night, well any night except Friday, my so-called failure of an ex boyfriend is supposed to be coming down. Actually Friday would be perfect, I can tell him I'm busy."

"Tyler, close the door."

Rose did as she was asked.

"I'm flattered you would choose to ask me round for dinner but it's not a very good idea. First, we work together, we don't appear to get on and I'm not being used as an excuse to get you out of confronting your ex-boyfriend."

"I'm not using it as an excuse. Come over Thursday night then. Look, you don't know anyone in town and you'll get tired of hotel food and sitting on your own. I make a mean Chinese meal, so I've been told."

"It's not a good idea Tyler, thanks all the same."

She was being turned down. Right, so much for that approach. She got up and was about to leave.

"Look Tyler, it's just not a good idea for me to come to your apartment so maybe we could go out for a meal instead. As two work colleagues?"

"Ok, Thursday night then? There's a Chinese restaurant up on the High Street, just up from The Traders. 7.30pm?"

"Fine and Tyler, you don't happen to know who started calling me DI Grumpy do you?"

Rose tried to keep a straight face. "Haven't a clue Sir but I'll put a stop to it." She turned to walk out of the door, grinning and didn't see a half smile on Hardy's face.

They were kept busy during the week, Rose driving him around and him driving her up the wall. Thursday night soon came around and they were both still working at half past six. Rose went to knock on Hardy's office door.

"Sir, I'm going home to get changed, if we're still going out to the Chinese."

Hardy looked like he'd forgotten. "Oh, is it that time already? Sorry, yes you go get changed, I'll meet you there."

"You won't leave me standing outside will you Sir?"

"No, no, of course not. What do you take me for Tyler?"

"Please don't call me Tyler all night, it's sounds like a boy's name when you say it like that."

Hardy grunted an "Ok" in reply.

Seven thirty, Rose walked up to the Chinese restaurant and found Hardy already standing outside, checking his watch. Rose thought he had some nerve and was trying to faze her by hinting he was always on time and never forgot. They both ordered and soon discovered they had nothing really to talk about except common knowledge of the case.

"Actually can we talk about something else? And can I at least call you Alec for the rest of the evening?" Rose asked, trying to eat her rice with difficulty.

"I've never really like my name. It's like people have to keep saying it over to you, like they've forgotten it. I don't need to keep saying your name for you to know that it's you I'm talking to, if I look at you, you know."

Rose thought he was being very cryptic. "I suppose so. If you put it like that."

Just then, her phone rang. It was Mickey. What was she going to say to him? "Mickey, it's not a good time, I'm busy."

"What can you be busy with at this time?"

"I'm trying to eat Mickey, what do you want?"

"Can I still come down tomorrow?"

"Mickey, I'm in the still in the middle of a murder investigation, I don't think it's a good idea for you to come down, let's just leave it for now, until it's all over.

"So you don't want to make up then?"

She didn't know and the last thing she wanted was to talk in front of her boss. "I don't know, I'll call you when this is over."

Hardy looked at her and carried on eating. He looked up from his meal and picked up his glass of wine. "Trouble?"

"No not really. I can't concentrate on the case if I have to sort out my ex boyfriend."

"Well don't get caught up in it, you need to a have clear mind."

"Easy for you to say, you haven't got an ex calling you begging you take them back." She saw the look on his face. "Sorry, I didn't mean to say, I mean to imply you're married or not married or whatever." She thought she had better quit while she was ahead.

Hardy put his drink down. "It's ok, I'm divorced and no fear of my ex trying to get me back thank goodness. There's no need to apologise."

Rose got up and excused herself to the ladies room. What was she thinking about? Insinuating her boss wasn't married or been married, she needed to get a grip on herself. When she got back, Hardy had paid the bill and was waiting to go. It was only just after eight forty five and he suggested he walked her home.

"Can I at least walk you home? I'd invite you into the hotel for a drink but I don't want people taking, it's a small bar unless there's somewhere else?"

"We can walk down to The George."

"Lead the way."

Rose cut down the road she lived on, not pointing out she lived there but he probably already knew and they entered the pub and Rose found a table. To her dismay, there were a few men sat in the corner making a lot of noise and she saw Nigel Carter was one of them. He had been unable to provide an alibi for Mark Latimer and had been caught out by none other than herself and he had not been happy about it.

Hardy was at the bar and he turned around in time to see Nigel approaching. Hardy recognised the man and knew there was going to be trouble and wished the barman would hurry up with his order.

Rose was feeling rather uncomfortable and pretended to look for something in her purse.

"We not good enough for you then DS Tyler?" Nigel laughed, waving to the group of men in the corner.

Rose would rather be interrogated by Hardy. "Were you talking to me?" she asked as the man gawked at her. He always did give her the creeps.

"I think you and I need a word, you nearly got me into trouble with that detective, talking to my mum like that, what you do that for? Let's go outside and talk."

Just then, Hardy stood at the side of the man and put the drinks on the table.

"I don't think DS Tyler is going anywhere with you Carter, now why don't you go back to your friends and leave her alone?"

Nigel looked at Hardy and then at his friends to back him up. They were ignoring him.

"Leave now Carter or I'll arrest you for threatening behaviour towards a police Officer."

"Who says I was threatening her, I only wanted a word with her."

"Well you had a word with her and I'm telling you, go away or do I have to drag you across to the Police Station?"

Nigel backed off, looking at Hardy and decided since his mates were no longer interested, he would be wise to withdraw. Hardy sat down opposite Rose.

Not wanting to seem ungrateful for Hardy's intervention, she thanked him. "Thanks but I could have handled him," she said, taking a drink.

"Yes Tyler, I could see that," he said with a smirk. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come here after all."

The men in the corner were patting Nigel on the back and laughing loudly.

"Don't take any notice of them, they're a bunch of loud-mouths. Now you know why I never go out except when my ex came to visit. Are we back to surnames again?"

"So does your ex visit often?" Hardy asked, taking a drink and avoiding the question.

"Not any more, we fell out over a holiday we were going on so my mum went instead so now he wants to make up."

"And you're not sure about it?"

Rose shook her head. Hardy was being an agony aunt. "No. He only came down every other weekend anyway and spent all his time watching football. I don't know why I bothered with him. He was supposed to come down the weekend before we went away and he said he had to work. He's a mechanic but my friend saw him going to the football match. We had a row on the phone about it and I told him I was going with my mother on holiday and changed the booking."

"Remind me not to cross you then," Hardy said, actually smiling.

It was the first time in nearly a week she had seen him smile. They finished their drinks, still getting stared at by Nigel and Hardy said he would walk her home, making sure they weren't being followed but Rose thought that Nigel didn't have the guts to follow up on his earlier actions. Standing outside the apartments, Rose told Hardy which one was hers. On the first floor.

"Nice building," he said, looking at the glass and chrome balconies. "Must be expensive though?"

"No, I get half the rent paid, part of the deal when I moved down here and got asked to stay. Thanks for dinner and the drink and also for walking me home. Should I also say thanks for rescuing me from Nigel Carter?"

Rose looked at the floor, not wanting to say it to his face.

"Don't mention it, Rose."

Did she hear him correctly? "I guess I'll say goodnight then, Alec?"

"About that initiation to dinner. Since you're no longer going to use me as an excuse to fend off your ex boyfriend and since going to the pub seems out of the question, is the offer still open?"

"Yeah, how about Saturday night?" She didn't want to push her luck by saying the following evening.

"Yes, fine, now I know where you live. We passed earlier."

He hadn't known where she lived after all. "I'm on the first floor, No.2. Just one thing, I take it all truces are off in the morning?"

Hardy looked at her. "Best keep it professional Tyler." He took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Goodnight Rose, it was a pleasant evening and certainly better than sitting in my hotel room."

"So Becca the barracuda hasn't hit on you yet then?"

"I think she was put off since we have evidence she was Mark Latimer's alibi and she asked his daughter to get her some drugs for a guest."

Rose smiled, then went to kiss his cheek. "Goodnight Alec, it was a nice evening."

Rose went inside and wondered what can of worms they had just opened.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Business as usual the next morning, Hardy was back to his grumpy usual self, the events of the previous evening seemingly forgotten which was why, Rose reminded herself, she had never dated a work colleague however tempting it may have been when Mickey was being an idiot. Rose plodded on, following Hardy's instructions and driving him around and finally, Rose went in to ask him if they were going to have to work the weekend this week.

"No I don't think so, take the weekend off. What time did you say for tomorrow evening?"

"You can come around for seven thirty if you like."

"Fine. Do you need me to bring anything? Wine perhaps?"

"Yeah, great. Red will be ok. I won't make Chinese since we had that the other night. How about Italian?"

"Italian is good. Goodnight then Tyler."

Rose had to smile. She was inviting him for a home-made dinner and he still calls her Tyler.

She went to do the shopping the next morning and bumped into Ellie again. "Rose, I thought you would want to talk to my Tom, no-one came back to us about it."

"There's a lot to go through Ellie, no-one had passed it to us yet but I'll mention it to DI Hardy on Monday morning."

"Did you take my advice and offer to make him a Chinese meal?"

Rose thought it was best that no-one knew they had been out on Thursday night and technically she was not telling lies, she hadn't yet made him a meal.

"I don't think it's a good idea Ellie, not with us working together."

Ellie got the hint and left Rose to do her shopping. Rose spent the rest of the afternoon looking through various recipes online with the ingredients she had bought and came across a fairly simple one and set to work on it. Her mother had called again, saying Mickey was complaining she had put him off again. She tried to reason with her but she said she should give Mickey another chance. Rose said maybe after the investigation was over.

She went to get changed and chose a red dress with thin straps and low heeled shoes and waited for her guest. The meal was almost ready and her doorbell went just before seven thirty. She let Hardy in and noticed he was wearing his suit but without a tie. He had his hands full carrying a bottle of red wine under his arm, a box of chocolates and in his other hand were a bunch of assorted yellow and white flowers.

"Hi, are those all for me? Thanks." She took the flowers and chocolates, putting them on the table by the door.

"I'm a little out of practice, I wasn't sure to bring flowers or chocolates so I thought I would play it safe. You knew about the wine."

Rose smiled and carried the flowers to the kitchen. She came back out with a bottle opener and a lighter for the candles.

"Can you open the wine bottle and light the candles please?"

"Sure, it's not dark yet though."

"I know but I was going to close the blinds, you can see over from the seafront," she replied as she made a point of pulling them over. "Besides, it adds to the ambience."

Hardy just nodded, probably wondering what he had let himself in for.

Rose brought the meals in, she had decided on spaghetti and home-made meatballs and just hoped he like it. Hardy poured the wine and tasted his meal.

"Quite good," he remarked. "So I guess for the purposes of this evening, I could stretch to calling you Rose, if you insist on first names." He actually offered Rose a smile.

She smiled back. What could they possibly find to talk about? Hardy made her mind up for her. She had wanted to know why he got the job offered to her so he told her and when he'd finished, she actually felt sorry for him.

"Sorry Alec, I didn't know. I had no idea but you were cleared, weren't you?"

"Yes but I had to lay low somewhere after I was cleared, two other officers were involved, including my ex so you can see I was eager to leave even though we had already divorced. The DS she was cheating on me with was getting rather nasty when it all came out and they both got reprimanded for it."

"I can see why they were upset then, letting you take the blame and them thinking they had got away with it. They shouldn't have let you take the fall for it."

"It was that or my daughter would have been devastated. She lived with her mother even after our divorce but I don't know how it's affected her, she won't talk to me." Hardy went quiet, sipping from his glass of wine.

Rose decided it was time to change the subject. "Can I get you something else? I've got this really nice Italian desert and maybe some tea or coffee?"

"Sounds ok but tea, I only drink a certain brand of coffee."

"So are you Starbucks or Costa?" Rose laughed.

"The second one."

"Me two, I have to go down to Weymouth if I get a craving for some. I keep meaning to get one of those coffee makers and get their blend of coffee but it would go to waste now no-one hardly visits. My mum only comes down occasionally and well, you know about my ex."

Rose could have sworn she heard him say that he would come round if she got a coffee machine but as she was going through to the kitchen, she could have misheard him.

After dessert, Rose was rather at a loss as to how to entertain her boss and put some music on, a CD of sentimental and love songs, most of her other music was rather up-beat and she didn't think the detective would be impressed by it. As they sat with Rose on the sofa and Hardy on the chair drinking tea, Rose asked him if he wanted to dance.

To her surprise he put his cup down and got up and Rose thought he was going to take the huff and leave but he held his hand out to help her from the sofa. As they danced to various female artists, Hardy kept his distance, holding her at arms length at first until Rose suggested some more wine and when they got up to dance to a second CD he moved closer. By his third glass of wine, the music had got slower and she could feel him breathing on her neck and wasn't sure whether to tell him to back off or not until he realised and backed off by himself. Rose let him at first but edged her way nearer, it had been a long time since she had danced with a man, not counting Mickey, who liked to show off on the dance floor.

It was after ten when Hardy announced he should go after the third CD. "I really should leave now, thanks for dinner, you're a fairly good cook Rose Tyler," he said, reaching for his jacket he had taken off before the first CD had finished.

Rose had been able to tell he wore a t-shirt under his white shirt and was rather disappointed but shook it off, she should not be having such thoughts about her grumpy boss but she had seen a new side to him. He'd managed not to call her Tyler all evening. Rose walked him to the door.

"So, thanks for the chocolates and the flowers, no-one ever buys me flowers. If you're not busy tomorrow, I was thinking of going down to Weymouth, we could go get coffee."

Hardy thought about it. Apparently it had been some time since he had tasted his favourite coffee. "Well, ok then you can twist my arm."

"Great, I can pick you up outside your hotel say 11am?"

"Fine. I'll be waiting a little further down, don't want to give people the wrong idea."

"So you don't want to be seen with me then?"

Hardy shook his head. "It's not that and you know it. Look at Thursday night, people know who we are. It's one thing to be seen during working hours or even at lunchtime or early evening but off duty? It's a small town Rose, people gossip. Goodnight then, I'll see you at eleven, meet me outside the market hall."

Rose opened the door. "Goodnight Alec."

Hardy reached for her hand and kissed the back of it again and Rose raised herself up and kissed his cheek. She had just closed the door, thinking that maybe they were getting a bit too familiar with each other when the doorbell rang again. She looked through the spyhole in the door to see Hardy standing there and she opened the door.

"Did you forget something?" she asked, looking at him.

Hardy didn't say anything before he moved closer, pushed her up against the door-frame and kissed her. "Yes," he said as he pulled away.

Then he turned away and headed for the stairs, leaving a rather stunned Rose in the doorway. She didn't know what to make of it. Was it just the three glasses of wine he'd had? He'd certainly loosened up since his second glass. She tried to forget about it as she locked the door and went to bed.

The next morning, she set off to go pick up Hardy from in front of the market hall. She found him looking at a poster on the wall and waited for him to turn around. On the way down they didn't talk much, Rose thought she'd had enough of the silence and wondered if he regretted or even remembered he had actually kissed her last night.

"So, what was that all about last night? You coming back and kissing me then walking away."

He sat there silently, not knowing what to say. "Does it need talking about? If I remember correctly, you did kiss me back."

"So I did. It was hardly expected, you caught me by surprise. Did you think I was going to slap you or something?"

"It did cross my mind. We've done nothing but argue since I arrived. To tell you the truth, it wouldn't have surprised me if you had slapped me and told me to get lost."

Rose dropped the subject. She was barely out of a relationship with Mickey, let alone courting danger with her new boss. Was it crossing the line of not getting involved with a work colleague? It could still be salvaged if they made nothing of it. She would wait for him to make the next move, if he ever did and if not, it had been nice to say the least. Hardy did not seem the type to give something up once he started.

Rose parked near the centre of the town, resisting the urge to put the police sign on the dashboard, thinking Hardy would not approve – until she went to get a ticket from the machine and he pointed to the sign. Rose just smiled and stuck the ticket to the windscreen thinking he could have pointed that out before she went to the machine that he thought it was justified to use it.

Rose headed straight for the famous coffee shop that sported the red logo and went to sit in the outdoor area.

"Have you tried the vanilla flavoured coffee Alec?" she asked as he stood there.

"No, is that what you want?"

"Yeah and ask for it in a takeaway carton, I don't like the cups. My mum thinks they're like soup bowls."

Hardy stood for a moment, shook his head and went inside, returning a few minutes later with two medium size red cartons with lids. Taking a sip of his, he agreed the new flavour was ok.

Rose dragged him around the various shops she wanted to go in, he refused point blank to go into the discount store and they went back to the car to put her shopping away with the intent of walking along the seafront. Halfway along they stopped to get some lunch and then walked to the end and sat down.

Rose looked over towards the other end of the promenade and pointed out the ferry terminal.

"I don't like boats," Hardy remarked.

"I'd noticed that since you wouldn't get out to examine Mark Latimer's," Rose laughed.

Suddenly, Hardy took hold of her hand. "There is a reason, maybe I'll tell you sometime. Do you want to go anywhere else?"

"Nope, all finished unless you want another coffee."

Hardy said he did so they walked back, Hardy grabbing her hand and got two vanilla coffees to go and walked back to the car. Hardy insisted on driving but Rose only let him once he reassured her he was covered for insurance.

"I'm tired of being driven around all day. How do you use this satnav?" he asked as he turned it on then pushed the drivers seat back and tugged at the steering wheel.

Rose was going to have to sort it out in the morning and put the seat back. Him and his long legs. She reached over and pressed the 'Home' button and the screen changed. She'd had enough of the silence on the way down so turning on the radio, she started singing along with Hardy glancing at her in the mirror.

They pulled up outside Rose's apartment and she went to retrieve the carrier bags from the boot of the car and as she pulled it closed, Mickey was standing there. She hadn't noticed his car parked across the road and he'd got out as Hardy was standing behind the car waiting to pass the car keys back to her. She was just about to hand one of the bags to him in exchange for the keys when she heard a "Hello Rose, where have you been?" and Mickey standing with his arms crossed.

Just at that second, Hardy chose to come out with, "Shall I take these up for you?" before he realised anyone was standing there. He looked at Rose and then at the man standing by the passenger door.

"Mickey, what are you doing here?" she gasped, handing the bag to Hardy and taking her keys.

"I could ask him the same thing Rose, who's he then?"

"This is my boss, Alec Hardy. Alec, this is Mickey Smith, my ex."

Hardy did not look impressed with Mickey, in scruffy jeans and a purple t-shirt and asked if Mickey wanted something.

"What I want is to talk to Rose – alone."

"Just say what you have to say and go Mickey, I did tell you not to come down."

"Yeah, I can see why now. I thought you were going to give me another chance?"

"I said I would think about it but what am I supposed to do when I'm in the middle of an investigation? I can't think about both. Just go home Mickey, I've made my mind up. I told you to wait until it was over but no, you had to drive all the way down here. Well you wasted your time, you didn't give me time to think about it."

"Yeah, well while I was giving you time to think about it, what were you doing?"

"Just go Mickey, I've got nothing more to say to you."

Rose remote locked the car and tried to step round Mickey, who was now blocking the way. Hardy stared at him, handed the bag he had taken from Rose back to her and approached him.

"Are you going to move?"

Mickey stood, still crossing his arms.

Hardy got his phone out. "You have 10 seconds, then I have a squad car here in less than a minute."

Mickey stood to one side and Hardy gestured for Rose to pass.

"Bother her again and I'll follow up on my promise," Hardy snarled.

Rose was beginning to think Hardy would be getting tired of sticking up for her all the time. She was supposed to be able to take care of herself and she would have done if she had been on her own. She didn't want to give him the wrong impression that she had grown up on a rough and ready London council estate.

Mickey wasn't about to give up easily. "I'll be back Rose, when you haven't got your so-called boss with you. I know what your game is Hardy. I suppose you've both been out 'working' then?"

Hardy was trying to keep his cool but was fast losing it. Trying to ignore the infuriating annoying man and not to start a street brawl just yards away from the vehicle entrance to the Police Station, Hardy followed Rose into the entryway to the apartments. Trust Mickey not to just let it rest and go home.

"You'll come crawling back Rose and don't think it will be so easy next time."

Rose lost her temper. "Excuse me, you're the one that does the crawling. How many times have I told you to get lost when you wanted to watch football and I wanted to go out? Just go Mickey, I won't be crawling back so don't hold your breath."

She opened the door to the foyer and Hardy let it close behind him. "I'll be up in a moment Rose, I just want a word with your friend out there."

"Don't Alec, it's just what he wants. He likes picking fights and he'll get you to lose your temper then put a complaint in against you and I don't want you getting into trouble."

He changed his mind and heeded her words, thinking things were bad enough as it was. Rose let them into her apartment and went into the kitchen. Hardy followed her.

"I'll just wait a while, make sure he's gone so I don't run into him. I may not be so polite the next time." He sat down on one of the chairs.

"Just be your usual gruff self then, that should fix him," Rose laughed.

"Oh, so you think I'm gruff then? Is that why you invite me to dinner then drive all that way to get coffee? I don't know why you bother with me, you're forever insinuating I'm rude and infuriating."

Rose let out a giggle. "Yeah, I don't know why I bother with you either, you're like a grizzly bear sometimes."

Hardy got up and walked up behind her as she switched the kettle on. Suddenly, he grabbed hold of her waist and she could feel his breath on her neck again.

"So it was you who told everyone to call me DI Grumpy then?" he asked, tightening his hold then spinning her around to face him.

"You got me! Well you are grumpy. You, DI Hardy, need to lighten up a bit." She put her arms around his neck.

She looked at him and wondered what he looked like without that scruffy beard and more importantly, without his shirt and t-shirt. She wasn't going to have to wait long for the second bit.

"Oh, I do, do I Tyler?" he laughed, putting his arms back around her waist and pulling her closer until she was almost leaning on him.

Rose looked up at him. "Is there some unwritten rule that says you have to keep snapping at everyone?"

He backed off slightly but Rose followed him, wanting an answer.

"Let me tell you something Rose. I trusted my team and they let me down, well two of them did. They betrayed me, my wife cheated on me, she was part of that team and I can't allow it to happen again. We have a murder to solve and maybe, just maybe when it's all over with, I might back off and lighten up as you put it but I can't afford to let my personal feelings get the better of me again and treat my team with kid gloves. I don't work like that any more."

He let go of her and stood at arms length. "I'm sorry Rose, I should go now. If Mickey is still outside, I'll try not to get into a fight with him, for your sake. I can look after myself."

"Alec, do you have to go just yet?" she asked, touching his arm and realising she had liked being close to him.

"It's best I go, like I said, it's not good to get too close to the people you work with. I had a nice day out today, thanks for taking me."

He turned but Rose got in front of him.

"What are you frightened of? Is there another rule saying senior officers can't be friends?"

"That's just it Rose, I don't want to be just friends with you so I have to back off before it's too late. I crossed the line the other night, I'm sorry."

Rose looked at him and moved towards him and put her arms around his waist under his jacket. He wasn't wearing a t-shirt this time, she could tell. "I'm not sorry, I enjoyed it although it was just one kiss and it could have lasted much longer if you'd tried."

Hardy looked down at her, they were a fraction of an inch apart as Rose got even closer but he just kissed the top of her head.

"Oh Rose, I'm sure I could have made it last much longer, I wasn't thinking straight with the wine and the music, the dancing and the candlelight, what exactly were you trying to tell me?"

He inched his head down, like he was looking for the exact angle he wanted as his lips got closer.

Rose took the bait. "Well I was aiming to at least dance with you a bit longer and it was rather a nice wine, I thought you might have stayed a bit longer. I mean, you going back to an empty hotel room and me staying here on my own. You don't really have to go now, do you Alec?"

If she moved just one fraction nearer, she would fall into those dark brown eyes of his as she stared into them as he looked into her hazel eyes. Then he decided he had found the angle he wanted as she found herself pressing into his lips, her arms slipping further around his waist as he held onto hers and before she knew it, he had picked her up and was carrying her into the living room and had put her on the sofa. Rose just had time to tell him to pull the blinds over.

His shirt was soon lost as was her t-shirt as he lay just to the side of her, then he was fumbling with her bra fastener as she fumbled with the zip of his trousers but he stopped her. Rose pulled a face but carried on kissing him as he took her bra off and tossed it over the arm of the sofa and leaned down to start kissing her breasts. Rose moaned as he did, she'd had no intimate contact for a good while and was enjoying the sensation of him touching her. He was gentle and his beard felt soft on her skin as he kissed one then the other while she had one arm around his back and the other around his neck.

It seemed like ages as they lay there, they had changed places, Alec managing not to fall off the sofa as Rose shuffled her way on top. He had pulled the zip down on her trousers and now had his hand down the back, Rose thinking he had an unfair advantage as he gradually pulled them down at the back but he kept his hand on top of her black cotton underwear, never attempting to go any further. As if by mutual agreement, Rose just lay with her head on his chest as he stroked her back and they began kissing again as she nudged herself up a bit.

Eventually, Rose moved onto her side as he lay there, her trousers were still over her hips, revealing her underwear but she still hadn't managed to coax him out of his trousers, he was probably still trying to stop himself crossing the line before he got too far over it and she wasn't sure herself if they should stop. She reached to the back of the sofa and retrieved her t-shirt and passed Alec his shirt. It was now early evening and she was getting hungry again and he volunteered to go up to the takeaway, borrowing her car.

Just after ten, they had been watching a film on TV, Alec said he really should go so Rose had to reluctantly let him, standing in the doorway, they kissed goodnight.

"So, back to reality tomorrow?" Rose asked, giving him one last kiss.

Alec let go. "I'm afraid so, let's just keep on acting professionally at work and once this is over, we'll take another look at it. As far as I know, there's no rule against as DS and a DI getting together, like I said, my ex was a DS but she was in a different team until that last investigation I was on. I just don't want a repeat."

"I can understand that Alec but I'm not her. There's no reason why we can't have lunch together occasionally and you could come over a few times, if you want."

"I'd like that Rose but we have to be careful, I can't afford to get hauled up in front of the chief and her asking if there's something going on between us. I need you on this case and we'll be split up if it comes out we're getting involved with each other."

"Maybe it will be best if we just be straight with her, let her decide. I'll volunteer to be moved to another team."

"No, you don't have to do that. We'll just keep it quiet for now and hope she doesn't find out and if she suspects something, I'll take the blame for it and ask for you to be replaced, if that's what you want."

Rose nodded her agreement and sneaked another kiss. "Goodnight Alec, or should I say DI Grumpy?"

Alec kissed her back. "Goodnight Tyler."

The next morning, she went into Hardy's office. She wanted to tell him about what Ellie had said about no-one interviewing her son Tom.

"So no-one has followed up on the fact that Tom Miller was Danny's best friend? Get in touch with his mother and ask her to bring him in, we need to talk to him, he may know where the skateboard and the missing phone are. What's wrong with the people around here? The boy may have vital information."

She needn't have worried about having to call Ellie as she got a phone call saying she was downstairs.

"Jack Marshall came to Beth's house yesterday and gave them this. It was Danny's phone."

Rose took her upstairs to Hardy's office after she had the phone sent off for examination. It was the first time Ellie had really met him and she felt sorry for her friend. They arranged for Tom to be brought in and Ellie left but as time went on, they heard there had been a disturbance outside the sea scouts hut and Jack Marshall was being hounded. Hardy and Rose went to see him but they could only advise him to keep his head down and keep a low profile but before the end of the week, he had taken his own life.

Rose couldn't believe it and as she let Alec in on the Friday night, she was fairly upset, not having let on earlier. They spent the weekend together, going out of town on the Saturday night down to the next village for dinner and on Sunday, they went to the beach further down the coast and walked hand in hand, taking their shoes off and walking in the water then calling at the beach café for lunch, both laughing when Rose ordered her meal and Alec saw the size of the fish she had ordered. Rose was sad though, they had a funeral to attend the next day.

Rose and Hardy made some progress, they had decided they weren't crossing the line, they needed comfort in a complex case but Alec never stayed overnight when he came over a few times although he had decided since his trousers were getting creased to take them off and they had laid on the sofa in the evenings and that Sunday evening when they got back from the beach, something finally gave between them.

It had just started out with kissing on the sofa but it was getting obvious they both wanted more as he slid his hand down her cotton underwear and pulled them down over her hips as she did the same with his shorts.

"Rose, I know I said this wasn't a good idea but I was wrong. I want you."

They looked at each other then gathering their clothes, they moved into the bedroom and Alec pushed her onto the bed, both eager to shed each other of their remaining clothes. They scrambled into bed, Alec diving down and kissing her breasts as Rose pulled him down on her.

"Mmm, that's nice Alec but I really want you somewhere else right now," she said, moving him down where she wanted him. He smiled and licked his lips.

"Really, are you in a hurry?" he teased, now kneeling between her legs and kissing her tummy then her hips. "Maybe I just want to take my time with you," he stated.

She knew he was tormenting her. "Fine, but can you please do that later, I want you now." Then quietly she added, "Please Alec, we've tormented each other enough, don't you think?"

Alec gave in as he let her move him where she wanted him the most as he kissed her and then began to move her, slowly at first then picking up the pace until she was calling his name, telling him she wanted more.

He glanced up, a vicious grin on his face. "Oh, you'll have more Tyler, believe me," he laughed as Rose felt him pound into her, sending convulsions through her as she pulled him like she couldn't get enough, wanting to scream his name but hardly a sound leaving her lips. Alec was grinning although she couldn't see his face as he buried his face in her neck as they both tumbled over the edge of their climax, Alec collapsing on top of her and Rose still reeling from the aftermath.

He rolled onto his back, trying to catch his breath, it seemed Rose wasn't the only one who hadn't had sex for a good while. It was a few minutes before either of them could speak. Rose turned him around to lay on him, resting her head on his chest and smiling.

"OK?" he asked, kissing her forehead and putting his arms around her.

Rose managed a nod, still unable to speak. When she managed to talk again, all she could say was, "That was amazing Alec. I take it that it's been a long time for you as well."

Alec laughed. "Was it that obvious? Do you attribute that fact to my being snappy and grumpy to everyone?"

Rose laughed as well. "Well it would account for it, maybe you'll ease up a bit now."

"Oh, I don't know, I do have a reputation to keep up Tyler."

Rose looked up at him. "Are we starting the surname game again Hardy?"

"Best get into practice for tomorrow or we'll both be standing in front of the chief and she'll fire the both of us."

"I'll go see her and ask to be transferred, there's no need for you to go. I'll try telling her I can't work with you anymore, everyone knows we fight."

"If that's what you want darlin', then you do what you think is best. I don't want to hide now anyway. If she let's us carry on working together, I'll assure her nothing will change. We can still work together. Now you promised me I could take my time now I gave you want you wanted."

He laughed and flipped her over and began kissing her breasts again and working his way down, Rose giggling with delight as his soft beard tickled her tummy and soon he had slipped back inside her as she held onto him, calling his name.

Monday morning, Alec left early to go get changed, the first night he had stayed over. They had woken and kissed and then fooled around before he got dressed, Rose getting a good look at his bum when he was putting his shorts on. Alec had laughed, throwing her cotton underwear at her she had left on the floor the night before.

Later on, they both attended Jack Marshall's funeral, sitting together and going to the Trader's Hotel afterwards, Alec telling her to report anything unusual. Before they had gone out, Rose had brought in the morning paper – the headline of the national and the paper that a certain reporter who was out to make Alec's life a misery was above a picture of him reading – 'Is this the worst cop in Britain?' Rose found it amusing but put on a solemn face as she showed him it and just patted him on his shoulder as he put on a black tie to set off. He took a little comfort in the fact they were no longer fighting.

Rose went to see the chief in the afternoon and asked to be put on another team and had to explain exactly why she wanted off the case, the chief not accepting she couldn't work with Hardy any more.

"Come on Rose, what's the real reason? You've been fighting since he got here, you resented him taking your job. He however, speaks very highly of you. So, out with it."

"Well Ma'am, it's just things have happened and I feel I would be better moving, DI Hardy and I have begun seeing each other outside of work."

She didn't want to give all the gory details they'd started having sex, something she knew now they wouldn't be able to tone down.

"I see. If it makes it awkward for you to work together then fine. I'll move you but if you can keep it professional and I get assurances from both of you, you can continue. Well, what's it to be? I don't want anyone else coming in Rose, you're too familiar with the case. If you can assure me you'll both keep your minds on the job then I don't see any reason to split the two of you up."

"I'll speak to him about it and if he agrees, I'll stay Ma'am."

When she told him, he agreed they made a good team and they would keep the bedroom out of it where work was concerned and he called the chief to give her is assurance.

Weeks had gone by and resources were being scaled back, much to their dismay. Then one Thursday teatime, Rose got a call from Ellie to go round to her house – Tom had brought Danny's skateboard home saying a woman he met at the amusement arcade had given it to him. She took Hardy to collect the evidence and police cars surrounded the caravan where the woman in question was staying but she was out.

They eventually caught up with her, she was questioned and released but later, she was caught threatening the local newspaper editor over the discovery of her real name and the editor had reported it to Rose. She and Hardy had her taken back to the station where they were also now holding Nigel Carter, he had taken the woman's dog and they charged him with owning a dangerous weapon, a crossbow was found in his van.

A remembrance service had been held for Danny, both Rose and Alec attended, being seen together in public as a couple and sparking a few rumours but they ignored them. The messages from Danny's phone had been analysed and Rose had an idea who it was. Hardy seemed fairly certain she was right and they followed up on some leads.

The combination of the skateboard and the calls and the fact the woman from the caravan offered no real reason why she had held onto it and the phone calls were to someone the family knew very well led to the arrest of two people who both pleaded guilty to conspiracy, saying the boy's death had been an accident, which gave little comfort to the family but Hardy had kept his promise to find who was responsible.

It had taken then almost three months of investigation and throughout they had grown closer to each other. Hardy had moved out of the hotel, Rose's mother wasn't really speaking to her, siding with Mickey and they went to Danny's funeral together as a couple, no longer hiding the fact they were together and Alec gave an interview to the local paper about his failed case and how he was cleared.

After the trial was over, they both went to the Italian Rivera on holiday and Alec overcame his fear of the water to go swimming with Rose nearly every day. They never talked about getting married, they were happy enough as they were. Alec had learned his lesson on being married and Rose never pushed him.

Rose got a commendation for her work on the Latimer case and didn't bother applying to a nearby town when a vacancy came up for a DI, choosing to carry on working with her now full-time on and off duty partner so they could both work the same hours but Rose did move onto a different team and they saw each other most of the time, Rose swapping places with a male DS, she didn't trust a female one, not that she didn't trust Alec, she just didn't trust women around him.

The End!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I do not offer any names as the alternate culprits in the case or insinuate any events in the new series. The story just highlights how Rose got through the investigation and consequently how it was solved. The ending won't please everyone!


End file.
